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The Night Stairs
  • Published: 7 August 2026
  • ISBN: 9781787305618
  • Imprint: Harvill
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 400
  • RRP: $55.00
Categories:

The Night Stairs

Formats & editions
Tr. Paperback
7 July 2026
EBook
9 July 2026
Audiobook
9 July 2026
Hardback
7 Aug 2026
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When schoolgirls start fainting one after the other at an elite convent boarding school, old legends twist into new scandals. From irresistible bestselling storyteller Erin Kelly comes the new compulsive thriller that will leave you craving to read more.

When schoolgirls start fainting one after the other at a convent boarding school, old legends twist into new scandals. From irresistible bestselling storyteller Erin Kelly comes the new addictive thriller that will leave you craving to read more.

'Had me hooked from page one. . . a twisty, confounding mystery' JENNIE GODFREY

'Relentlessly gripping...Original, atmospheric, and deliciously dark' LUCY CLARKE

Centuries of tradition are coming to an end at St Cordula's school. Deputy Head, Fiona Fox, is about to preside over a controversial move to save it from ruin. But it’s not easy to change things at a school this old.

Legend has it that the ghost of fifteenth-century nun, Sister Matilda, will keep St Cordula’s safe. But only as long as the words ‘GOD FORGIVE ME’, scrawled by Matilda on a chapel staircase wall before she fell to her death, are repainted every year. The words have only been allowed to fade once, in 2002. But then, fits of vertigo spread through the pupils, and a second girl fell to her death on the night stairs. Only three people know the truth of what happened on the night of the tragedy.

Now the vertigo is back, and Fiona must stem the outbreak before it threatens St Cordula’s future, or worse, another girl loses her life. But when one of her pupils begins a dangerous investigation into the past, old secrets start to twist into new scandals…

'Creates a world that pulls you in and won't let go. Deliciously dark and satisfying' JANE FALLON

'Outstanding...as much an insightful novel about female friendship and betrayal as it is a compelling mystery' JANE CASEY

'Deeply layered, beautifully penned and infinitely absorbing... a triumph' ABIR MUKHERJEE

'A stylish and utterly compulsive read from one of my favourite storytellers' RUTH WARE

'A stunning gothic thriller: beautifully-written, wise, moving, and utterly compelling. . . an absolute triumph' ALEX NORTH

'Compulsively creepy and genuinely thrilling. . . Warning: this will keep you up all night' ANNA MAZZOLA

'Like falling into a fever dream – enchanting, embroiling, and addictive. An absolute classic from the peerless Erin Kelly' SARAH HILARY


PRAISE FOR ERIN KELLY:

‘So thrilling and unexpected that it made my head spin’ LISA JEWELL
‘Erin Kelly is supremely skilled at unusual and intelligent suspense plots’ DAILY MAIL
‘Original, suspenseful, and with complex characters that spring irresistibly to life on the page’ LOUISE CANDLISH
‘An incredibly atmospheric psychological thriller with a clever, elaborate plot’ GRAZIA
‘Incomparable…captivating, cleverly constructed’ PAULA HAWKINS
‘Magnificent’ MARIAN KEYES
‘A gripping tale of secrets, revenge and obsession, masterfully done’ GUARDIAN
‘Propulsive… atmospheric, original’ GILLIAN McALLISTER
‘A taut chamber-piece of psychological suspense’ FINANCIAL TIMES
  • Published: 7 August 2026
  • ISBN: 9781787305618
  • Imprint: Harvill
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 400
  • RRP: $55.00
Categories:

About the author

Erin Kelly

Erin Kelly is the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Poison Tree, The Sick Rose, The Burning Air, The Ties That Bind, He Said/She Said, Stone Mothers/We Know You Know, Watch Her Fall, The Skeleton Key and The House of Mirrors, as well as Broadchurch: The Novel, inspired by the award-winning TV series. The Poison Tree became a major ITV drama and was a Richard & Judy Summer Read. He Said/She Said spent six weeks in the top ten in both hardback and paperback, was longlisted for the Theakston's Old Peculier crime novel of the year award and selected for both the Simon Mayo Radio 2 and Richard & Judy Book Clubs. The Skeleton Key was a Sunday Times top ten bestseller and was selected as a Waterstones Thriller of the Month. Born in London in 1976, Erin lives in north London with her husband and daughters.
EK

Praise for The Night Stairs

Erin Kelly is the kind of writer whose work you read and instantly wish it were your own

Colette McBeth

Erin Kelly is a class act

Good Housekeeping

Kelly is a master at drip-feeding us the details, keeping us guessing about the truth, and the many shades of grey it contains, right until the end

Lucy Dawson

A unique storyteller

Observer

Reading The Night Stairs is like falling into a fever dream – enchanting, embroiling, and addictive. An absolute classic from the peerless Erin Kelly

Sarah Hilary, author of THE DROWNING PLACE

Had me hooked from page one. . . a twisty, confounding mystery

Jennie Godfrey, author of THE LIST OF SUSPICIOUS THINGS

This taut gothic suspense novel kept me up late frantically turning pages. It's a thoroughly twentieth-century take on dark academia...Kelly has written another chilling and perceptive novel that's a must-read

Chris Bridges, author of SICK TO DEATH

Wonderful and original novel. . . intelligent, nuanced and immersive, as well as intricately plotted, with a deeply convincing cast of characters and an extraordinary depiction and understanding of teenage girls. The twists are powerful. . .

Claire Kendal, author of MAKE YOU MINE

Erin Kelly is the master of the immersive thriller and The Night Stairs is a wonderful example of her ability to weave multiple timelines, characters and mysteries together to tease, challenge and ultimately entertain the reader...Writing with wit and devastating accuracy Kelly reminds us of how a tension filled adolescence can so easily tip into horror

Sinead Crowley, author of THE BELLADONNA MAZE

I was utterly absorbed by this chilling and immersive thriller. The plot is intricate, the twists are head-spinning, the setting is so vivid I can still walk around it in my mind, but what I loved most of all were the perfectly painfully rendered characters.

Holly Seddon, author of 59 MINUTES

I’ve loved each of Erin Kelly’s novels – but The Night Stairs is my new favourite. The richly evoked setting of St Cordula’s convent school becomes a playground for malaise and madness, in this relentlessly gripping psychological thriller. Original, atmospheric, and deliciously dark

Lucy Clarke, author of THE HIKE

Outstanding...peeling back the layers of respectability and tradition in a Catholic girls' school to reveal incense-bitter truths. Atmospheric and expertly crafted, this is as much an insightful novel about female friendship and betrayal as it is a compelling mystery...Erin Kelly is one of the absolute best in the business.

Jane Casey, author of THE SECRET ROOM

Nobody builds a world quite as believable as Erin Kelly. And no one can tear it down quite so deliberately too. The Night Stairs is another captivating, fiendishly clever thriller with blindsiding twists

John Marrs, author of DEAD IN THE WATER

Erin Kelly is in her element. Compulsively creepy and genuinely thrilling. Old legends twist together with teenaged trauma in this superbly atmospheric and cleverly-structured convent school thriller. Warning: this will keep you up all night.

Anna Mazzola

The Night Stairs is a stunning gothic thriller: beautifully-written, wise, moving, and utterly compelling. Erin Kelly is one of our very best writers, and her latest novel is an absolute triumph

Alex North, author of THE MAN MADE OF SMOKE

A sinfully addictive read with a twisting tale that spans two generations hiding one dark secret... A story about guilt and belonging, found families fighting classism, the weight of guilt and the burden of secrets. An intricately layered plot and cast of fully-fleshed visceral characters offers a truly indulgent and immersive reading experience. Erin Kelly is the master of mystery

Callie Kazumi, author of CUCKOO

Erin is so brilliant at world-building. I was totally absorbed by the claustrophobia and Gothic dread of St Cordula’s with its ghastly private school kids and uptight teachers. All those secrets and repression - It’s like a gruesome combination of its own references, Enid Blyton and Virginia Andrews. Clever, ingenious and gripping

Sabine Durrant, author of SUN DAMAGE

Hysteria, secrets, faith. . . and murder? This gothic boarding school mystery had all of my favourite things, and gripped me until the very last twist. Erin Kelly is a cut above

Juno Dawson, author of HER MAJESTY'S ROYAL COVEN